Survive to thrive

College of Education program supports new classroom teachers

Solving big problems requires big ideas — and one of the biggest problems facing public
education in South Carolina and elsewhere is teacher retention.

Consider: In 2016, South Carolina watched 6,482 teachers abandon the classroom, according
to the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement. Meanwhile, according
to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, teacher turnover costs
South Carolina school districts $23 million a year.

Again, big problem. Or big problems, plural. So, what’s the big idea? Look no further
than the College of Education, which last year launched Carolina TIP — short for Carolina
Teacher Induction Program — as a way to keep promising new teachers from fleeing the
classroom before they’ve hit their stride.

It’s a complicated challenge, but the core idea is simple: Invite new teachers to
participate in a three-year post-graduate professional development program to improve
their classroom effectiveness and help mitigate the various stresses that come with
being a new teacher.

“There is a longstanding belief in the College of Education that support shouldn’t
end at graduation,” says Carolina TIP director Nicole Skeen. “There’s a big difference
between learning about classroom management in the safety of the university or practicum
classroom environment and standing on your own in front of 30 9th graders and actually
having to apply the various pedagogical strategies you’ve acquired.”

Rooted in a white paper by associate professors of education Thomas Hodges and George
Roy, Carolina TIP was embraced by College of Education assistant dean for accreditation
and professional partnerships Cindy Van Buren and dean Jon Pedersen, who began making
the case for the new program across the state, even penning a powerful op-ed in The
State newspaper last July.

Pedersen also authorized the search for a director, someone with plenty of classroom
experience, both as a teacher and as a teaching coach. Skeen was an ideal fit.

A longtime middle school teacher and instructional coach in Richland District One,
Skeen received her M.A.T from Carolina in 2005. She had also served as an adjunct
methods and materials instructor at the College of Education. Her job now, as she
puts it, is to “take this radical idea and figure out how to make it a reality.”

Initially, that meant poring over the data on teacher retention and researching induction
programs from around the country. That meant finding a corporate partner — Colonial
Life — to cover the cost of daylong Saturday workshops and provide materials. That
meant partnering with districts and getting their feedback.

“It’s imperative that we work in conjunction with schools and school districts. This
needs to be a collaborative effort at its core,” says Skeen. “This program should
enhance induction efforts without competing with what’s already being done.”

Indeed, the state already requires each school district to provide orientation, a
trained mentor and an induction program for new classroom teachers. For a host of
reasons, though, some districts are able to do a better job easing new teachers into
the profession than others. Sometimes it’s a resource problem, sometimes it’s a time
problem.

“Time is the enemy of all teachers,” says Skeen. “A mentor could be the most well-trained,
well-intentioned mentor that ever existed, but they have to have to have the time
to provide in-class support to another teacher. I can go into a school — or someone
like me, we call ourselves Carolina Coaches — and be solely dedicated to the needs
of those new teachers.”

The first cohort of 15 new teachers, all of them Carolina graduates hired in 2017
by Midlands-area professional development schools (PDS), began the program in October.
The goal is to recruit 75 first-year teachers next year, bringing the total number
of participants to 90.

“We intentionally chose to work in our PDS schools for now because we already have
a sustained partnership with them,” Skeen says. “That gave us this sandbox to get
messy in and learn as we go, and provides a safe environment to work out the logistics
of support.”

All teachers in the program receive classroom observations and feedback, lesson analysis
and personalized mentoring. They also attend Saturday workshops on the USC campus,
where they receive targeted support training, according to Skeen.

“Participants aren’t just listening to somebody describe best practices. We’re getting
our hands dirty, wrestling with ideas and how to implement them,” she says. “We want
teachers to walk away with powerful strategies they can implement on Monday with no
additional preparation.”

Participants are likewise encouraged to start thinking long-term and to reflect on
their development as educators.

“It’s a holistic approach,” says Skeen. “We’re there to meet the teachers’ needs,
whatever those needs may be. For first-year support, classroom management is clearly
the biggest focus.”

But as teachers begin to get a handle on the basic day-to-day challenges, the emphasis
shifts from mere survival to improved classroom practice. By the second semester,
teachers will begin to explore strategies for reaching all students and addressing
barriers to learning.

“One of the nice things about this program is that we’re not tied to a particular
agenda,” Skeen explains. “If the teacher needs to vent, we provide a safe space for
that. If a teacher needs encouragement, we break out the pom-poms. And we aren’t just
meeting with them on Saturdays. We’re in their classrooms, we’re calling them, emailing
them, meeting after school, on weekends, over winter break.”

In the second year, the keyword is “stabilize,” according to Skeen; in the third year,
the keyword is “sharpen.”

“Typically — and research backs this up — year three is when you see teachers have
a real impact on student learning,” she says. “By year three, they have better footing.
The goal is to create teacher researchers in their own classroom and leaders in the
schools.”

The program, too, is a work in progress. Skeen and her partners in the College of
Education refer to 2017-18 as an exploratory year, and envision 2018-19 as the pilot
year. If all goes well, Skeen hopes to have a replicable model by year five.

“Right now, we’re still defining our model,” she says. “Next, we need to refine that
model, see what works, what doesn’t. With each iteration, we’re going to learn new
things that we need to change, things we never anticipated. We’re bound to make a
million mistakes, but that’s part of the process.”

And if all goes as planned?

“The primary goal is to keep teachers in the classroom,” says Skeen. “But I’m confident
this will also be a strong recruiting tool for the university. Teachers receive top-notch
preparation in the College of Education, and then if they teach in South Carolina,
they get an additional three years of support.”